After a difficult year, the U.S. foodservice industry is beginning to see its fortunes change for the better.
Restaurant chains across the county are reporting stronger sales in March. Tilman Fertitta, the chairman and CEO of Houston, Texas-based Golden Nugget/Landry’s, which operates several upscale seafood restaurants, told CNBC he was surprised by strong sales at the company’s restaurants and casinos in March.
Golden Nugget/Landry’s, which announced it was going public earlier this year, operates more than 500 upscale steak and seafood restaurant locations under the brand names Del Frisco's, Landry's Seafood House, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Morton's Steakhouse, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood, and Joe's Crab Shack.
"Our numbers in March are surprising to us in all 40 states that we do business in,” Fertitta said. ”Even in California and New York, where you don't have the business traveler, people are still going out in huge numbers now. In Texas and Florida, they're just blowing numbers away. People are tired of being locked up.”
In addition, while Darden’s sales dropped 26 percent in its fiscal third quarter to USD 1.7 billion (EUR 1.5 billion), the Orlando, Florida-based operator of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and other restaurant chains, beat analysts’ expectations.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is creating a more hopeful state of mind for many Americans, leading to higher sales, according to a new Harte Hanks survey. Americans are looking forward to doing everyday activities post-vaccine including eating out at a restaurant (46 percent), going to the office everyday (44 percent); shopping at the mall (38 percent), and no longer working at home (37 percent), Harte Hanks found.
However, despite the more positive signs for the restaurant industry, 10.2 percent of U.S. food establishments have closed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new data from research firm Datassential. Of the 778,807 food establishments in operation since the onset of COVID-19, 79,438 have closed for good. The numbers include restaurants that have opened during the pandemic.
Quick service restaurants (QSR) – the biggest segment of the foodservice industry – have weathered the pandemic with the fewest closures, at 9.8 percent. Chain restaurants (excepting the largest chains with more than 501 locations) have closed permanently at a higher rate than independent restaurants. The largest permanent closure rate among chains is restaurants with between 51 and 100 units, at 16.2 percent, Datassential found.
"This last year has been one of the toughest the restaurant industry has ever faced," Datassential CEO Jack Li said in a press release. "But the good news is that the rate of closures is slowing, and the future is bright for those restaurants that have learned to adapt to the host of new challenges facing them in our new normal.”
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